Voters in Newfoundland and Labrador showed they were in the mood for a big change on Tuesday by ousting the governing Liberals after ten years in power. As the ballots were counted at the conclusion of the autumn election campaign, the Progressive Conservatives led by Tony Wakeham edged into a small lead after a nail-biting, see-saw battle, and then pulled...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he threatened to beat up a Home Depot shoplifter over the summer. Ford told an audience at the Empire Club in Toronto that bail needs to be strengthened because criminals have become emboldened. The premier relayed a story from the summer when he said he ditched his police detail to go to Home Depot to...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford came out hard against the idea of Canada lifting its tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) on Tuesday, voicing his disagreement with two western premiers who are calling on Ottawa to do so. “(Saskatchewan Premier) Scott (Moe) called me up and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to protect my province’. I get it. I get why (Manitoba...
The federal industry minister is putting pressure on U.S.-based Lockheed Martin to provide more economic benefits in Canada if the government is to proceed with its planned purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets. Otherwise, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said in a French-language interview on Radio-Canada’s Les coulisses du pouvoir, Ottawa could move forward with a smaller fleet of F-35s and...
British Columbia's softwood industry is facing an "existential threat" from increasing U.S. tariffs that needs to be treated with the same urgency by the federal government as threats to Canadian steel and auto jobs, B.C. Premier David Eby says. Eby held a news conference Tuesday, surrounded by union and industry representatives on the same day an additional 10 per cent...
The Weekly Nanos Tracking is produced by the Nanos Research Corporation, headquartered in Canada, which operates in Canada and the United States. The data is based on random interviews with 1,002 Canadian consumers (recruited by RDD land- and cell-line sample), using a four-week rolling average of 250 respondents each week, 18 years of age and over. The random sample of...
Overall consumer confidence in Canada remains in a neutral posture as uncertainty on the Canada-US trade relationship continues. When asked if the Canadian economy will be stronger or weaker in the next six months only 16 percent are positive in sentiment, which is a five-month low.
Recently I reconnected with a high school friend of mine who I long ago lost touch with. Turns out, about 15 years ago, Dave moved from Coquitlam, B.C. to go work in the energy sector in Alberta. He was always a builder. He is the guy who aced every woodshop project and metal works project in high school and fixed...
Canada will not consider reopening trade talks with India until New Delhi allows the return of Canada's full cohort of diplomats, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Tuesday. "The approach that we are following is a step-by-step approach, to be prudent along the way," Anand told reporters in a video conference from Mumbai — two years after India forced Ottawa...
Although the government it hasn't yet reached that point, too many political appointments 'is never ideal because it undermines morale in the diplomatic service,' says professor Adam Chapnick.
In the Northwest Territories, governments don’t just consult with one another—we sit at the same table. Through the N.W.T. Council of Leaders, the premier, cabinet ministers, and Indigenous governments meet as equals to set direction and make decisions together. That model of partnership is what makes the North different. It’s also what makes it essential to Canada’s future...
There is a troubling pattern emerging in the debate on the NL Hydro and Hydro-Québec MOU – one that should alarm every Newfoundlander and Labradorian who believes in open debate and fair treatment. When I raised legitimate concerns about a deal that could disadvantage our province for generations, did powerful interests from outside respond with what to me seems obvious...
If you ask Canadians what keeps them up at night, the answer is no mystery. The cost of living, housing and access to health care dominate our surveys. In recent Abacus Data polling, 68 per cent say they’re worried about affording basic needs in the next six months, and seven in ten are delaying major life decisions because of financial...
Reviving Keystone XL is, in the eyes of former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, a brilliant “judo” move. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s suggestion that the Keystone XL pipeline project could be revived could end up tying Canada more closely to the United States, rather than diversifying trade. But the idea turns U.S. President Donald Trump’s own talk about Canada on its...
Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, had it right when he spoke in Halifax last month: framing Canada’s troubles as a U.S. trade war isn’t a helpful strategy. The current crisis is much bigger, and it’s anchored to our neglected geography as an Arctic nation. Canada’s Arctic coastline is bookended by Alaska and Greenland. Russia sits across the pond...
When U.S. President Donald Trump sent shock waves through the tech industry with his plans to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, some Canadians’ eyes lit up like kids in a candystore. The candies in this case, though, are highly-educated foreign workers. Calls for the federal Liberals to take advantage of the situation came fast and hard...
For many decades, Canada attempted to escape restrictive American trade and other economic initiatives designed to advantage the United States by claiming a “special relationship” which, we argued, should mean an exemption for Canada. Reaction to the Donald Trump shock shows the idea isn’t dead. One can’t help feeling, after watching Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump...
For the sake of our democracy it’s time for Canada to lower the voting age. I can already hear some of you objecting, “16-year-olds aren’t old enough to vote, they won’t take it seriously.” But, give me a minute.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says Canada must accept “second place” in the auto industry — that car assembly will happen in America and there’s “nothing Canada can do about it.” It’s a striking claim, but it’s wrong — economically, historically and strategically. There is no such thing as an “American car” without Canada.
Political coverage is often focused on the most outlandish behaviour, when behind the scenes many MPs are trying to make Canada a safer, healthier, fairer, more just place. On this Thanksgiving weekend, here is a palate cleanser from all the toxicity, a highlight of some proposals from politicians, most of whom are members of Parliament whose names were chosen through...
One of Donald Trump’s former chiefs of staff passed along a tip this week to a high-powered Canadian audience on how to deal with the president. Basically it amounted to this: Trump wants friends. “The president’s a one-on-one guy, and he’s personable. He likes to be friends with the people that he’s talking to,” Reince Priebus, who served as Trump’s...
The federal NDP has rarely looked weaker, and that might be its greatest opportunity. With support hovering in the high single digits, a caucus reduced to seven MPs, and little sense of purpose without party status, the party sits at an historically low ebb. But moments of weakness can also be moments of reinvention. When the political and economic ground...
During his visit to U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney sounded exactly like he said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre would sound had he won the federal election in April.
When Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne appeared before the House of Commons finance committee this week, Conservative MP Pat Kelly attempted to corner him with a complicated question disguised as a simple one. "Minister, what year will the budget be balanced?" Kelly asked. Champagne spoke a few dozen words in response, but failed to answer, so Kelly tried again. And then...
This mellow long weekend, many Canadians will give thanks for the vibrancy, freedom and beauty of our imperfectly magnificent country. But there’s another reason for gratitude: Canada will never try to annex the United States. The U.S. will never, ever be part of us. Why? Because who needs that kind of trouble? Life for Canadians would become nothing but one...
No one should be surprised that Donald Trump and his punishing tariffs on Canadian exports to the United States are creating dilemmas for both of our country’s major political parties. Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberal Government are facing continued resistance from the Trump administration as it tries to negotiate relief from the 50% sectoral tariffs the Trumpsters in...
FOR ALL HIS TALK OF RECONCILIATION, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s push to accelerate the next wave of nation building has exposed a familiar fault line in Canadian politics: when economic ambition collides with Indigenous consent, ambition usually wins.
On the latest Forbes list of America’s richest people, Tesla co-founder Elon Musk ranks first, with a net worth of US$428-billion. Second richest is Larry Ellison, co-founder of the software firm Oracle, at US$276-billion. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is close behind, at US$253-billion, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, at US$241-billion. What all of these gentlemen have in common...
It’s easy to walk around the Yonge-Eglinton area these days and have no idea that, in December 1837, hundreds of men gathered there to stage an armed rebellion against colonial authorities. Back then, Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue was just a rural crossroads, and the men were armed mostly with pitchforks, sticks and hunting rifles when they met at Montgomery’s...
When it comes to Mark Carney, Donald Trump and the White House meeting that swallowed much of this week, I’m with John Cleese — or at least the character he played in the movie “Clockwise.” “I can take the despair,” he famously said. “It’s the hope I can’t stand.”
Early Thursday (Israel time) U.S. President Trump announced on Truth Social that a deal had been done. Hours later, Israelis were notified that a ceasefire was imminent. Jubilation does not begin to capture the mood. A small group of hostage families and former captives were filmed earlier today crowding around a telephone and thanking President Trump, profusely, for his dedication...
Mark Carney has long been recognized as an authority on climate change. In 2015, as the governor of the Bank of England, he gave his famous “tragedy of the horizon” speech that introduced climate change to bankers as a threat to international financial stability. In an interview shortly after he was appointed UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance...
A newly released spy watchdog report says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service lacked adequate policies and procedures to manage a secret technology for collecting information. The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency says CSIS mischaracterized a novel technical capability as an extension of existing know-how. The report says this led to CSIS not consulting Public Safety Canada in a timely...
If you’ve been on political social media for long, you’ll remember how it used to feel—like a small town: friendly, argumentative, sometimes petty but mostly human. Now it’s more like Dodge City: disinformation, echo chambers, bots, and bile. Longtime users are starting to despair. Is our town dying? Elon Musk thinks AI can clean it up, starting with Twitter. But...
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives outspent their opponents during last winter’s provincial election by more than $6 million, but one of their nearest rivals says the governing party had a “massive head start” because of its use of taxpayer-funded advertising months ahead of the snap vote. The election spending figures come from mandatory filings more than six months after the writ period...
When Prime Minister Mark Carney took the stage on Parliament Hill for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, he mentioned a piece of art that he requested be installed in the corridors of power shortly after he took office. “A Brief History of Northwest Coast Design,” a sculpture by Indigenous artist Luke Parnell, is currently displayed...
The NDP had its worst result ever in April's federal election, sinking down to just seven MPs. Two separate paths to party renewal — and three very different contenders — have emerged as the race to choose the next leader of the federal NDP begins to take shape. Article content While still in its opening weeks, the contest is already...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand met India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during her three-day official visit to India as the two countries work to strengthen ties after two years of diplomatic strain. Anand posted a picture on social media on Monday, which showed her sitting across from Modi in New Delhi. Anand said the meeting with the Indian prime minister...
From mining and energy to technology, banking and the rule of law, pluralism, free speech, and a good work ethic, Canadians see potential through the headwinds. Thanksgiving in Canada traces its roots to Indigenous celebrations of good harvests, well before Europeans arrived in Canada. The first evidence of a European Thanksgiving in what was to become Canada happened in 1578...
Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Egypt Monday, where he joined U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the signing of a peace plan to end the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. In a pair of social media posts, Carney referred to the start of a new chapter. "At the Peace Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, we...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand will visit China this week, part of an effort to mend fences as a painful trade war with Beijing grinds on. The Anand visit, announced Friday, may end up being a prelude to a leader-level meeting later this fall between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two have not met since...
The head of Canada’s automotive parts industry is warning against dropping tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, saying the move would jeopardize the country’s EV sector and send the wrong message during an ongoing trade dispute with Beijing. “I am reminding (the premiers) publicly, that if Canada is in a trade war with a country, then the response has to be...
The Supreme Court of Canada has ditched its iconic red and white robes for a simpler black design. The new robes made their debut this week as the court marked its 150th anniversary and the opening of a new judicial year. Featuring red piping and white collars over black silk, they replace the bulky, bright red outfits with white fur...
Trump arrives in Israel to address parliament before heading to Egypt for world leaders meeting. Hamas released 20 living hostages on Monday as part of a ceasefire pausing two years of war that saw Israel pummel Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and left scores of captives in militant hands. The first seven were released early Monday and were...
Every new prime minister eventually faces turbulence, and that’s when a strong and trusted palace guard is ‘essential,’ says political historian and former Liberal MP John English. But at a critical time in Canadian history, Carney’s team is going to have to learn fast. Like other prime ministers before him, Mark Carney needs a loyal ‘palace guard’ within his office—a...
Global Affairs Canada says deteriorating stability worldwide is causing a massive expansion in the work required to protect Canadians abroad, with the department warning Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand that Canadians might need to pay more and expect less. That's according to the briefing binder prepared for Anand when she took on the role in May. Across hundreds of pages...
If the new president of Microsoft Canada is concerned that a trade war with the United States will diminish his employer's stature north of the border, he's not showing it. Instead, Matt Milton addresses most questions about the challenges facing his company with Microsoft's resume -- 40 years in Canada and millions in annual investments in the Canadian economy. The...
News that China would remove tariffs on the Canadian agriculture sector if Canada drops its levies has prompted swift reaction, and now growing pressure for Ottawa to act. Chinese ambassador Wang Di made the comments in an exclusive interview with Vassy Kapelos on CTV’s Question Period on Sunday. “If the EV tariffs are removed, then China will also remove the...
Prime Minister Mark Carney was set to leave Sunday afternoon for Egypt, to take part in a hastily organized summit surrounding the truce U.S. President Donald Trump helped arrange between Israel and Hamas. Carney will join leaders from more than 20 countries in the Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says he will co-chair a...
Barely seven months after the last federal election, it would be politically unwise for any party to topple Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government over its first budget, say Liberal MPs. “It would be idiotic for any party to try to bring down the government at this stage,” said Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay-Rainy River, Ont.), in an interview with...
A Quebec senator says she was never told by her doctor that a surgical procedure she went through in 2005 would render her unable to have children, and hopes her story can advance a broader reckoning on systemic racism in Canada. Sen. Amina Gerba told her story to her colleagues on the floor of the Senate earlier this month. She...
Industry minister says Canadian trade diversification efforts are working. Canada-U.S. trade negotiations are “going ahead in the right direction” and Canadian companies are repositioning themselves to lean away from overreliance on American trade, says Industry Minister Mélanie Joly. In an interview on Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday morning, Joly explained her takeaways from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting with U.S...
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan says the Canadian military is moving ahead with its preparations for F-35 fighter jets despite an ongoing government review of the purchase. “We’re not currently in the position where we are waiting,” Carignan told CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an exclusive interview airing Sunday. “We are working towards this acquisition.”...
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to take action on resolving a trade dispute with China. On Saturday, Kinew sent a letter to Carney’s office referencing recent remarks by the Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di. In an exclusive interview with CTV Question Period airing on Sunday, the ambassador said that China is prepared to...
The man who has replaced Hardeep Singh Nijjar as the leader of the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) group in Canada says he turned down an offer of protection from the Canadian government that would have required him to “disappear” from his life. Inderjeet Singh Gosal of Brampton, Ont., is considered one of the main targets for assassination by the same...
The Liberal government's efforts to revise Canada's national security strategy hit a snag when it became clear earlier this year that many of the assumptions underlying the work were "no longer valid," a newly released memo reveals. John Hannaford, the Privy Council clerk at the time, told Prime Minister Mark Carney in the memo that "changes to Canada's strategic environment"...
Now defunct after being shut down twice, the Keystone XL pipeline is back in the spotlight after CTV News learned Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the project during their meeting in Washington earlier this week.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke Saturday about recent Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy grid. A readout about the call issued by the Prime Minister's Office says Carney condemned the attacks, and that Canada is closely co-ordinating with Ukraine on new ways to support defending Ukraine's energy infrastructure and ensuring Ukraine has sufficient gas supply as...
It was a token of thanks that was not intended to be cheeky. But it may have won Prime Minister Mark Carney that round of face-to-face talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday. Trump and Carney last met at the United Nations more than two weeks ago, hours after Trump’s tirade against the UN at the General...
When Donald Trump and Mark Carney met in the White House for the first time a few months ago, the meeting looked, and was, tense. Not so this latest time. Smiles, laughs and lots of almost boyish banter. What was that all about? Has anything really changed? Could a deal be in the offing, or was it all for the...
Sergio Marchi says when he asks students in his university course on politics how many of them are interested in a career in public life, he's surprised if two or three of them raise a hand. Marchi, who served as minister for international trade from 1997 to 1999 and later as ambassador to the World Trade Organization and the United...
Many poorer Canadians will get the government benefits they are entitled too and could be lifted out of poverty thanks to Ottawa’s plan to set up auto-filing tax returns for low-income citizens, activists say. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday that starting in 2027, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) would begin auto-filing tax returns for low-income Canadians, allowing them to...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to relocate World Cup matches set to be played next year in Boston, parts of which he'd suggested had been "taken over" by recent unrest.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday is posthumously awarding America's highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk, the assassinated activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation's politics further to the right.
Fox News, the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has joined a near-unanimous outpouring of news organizations rejecting new rules for journalists based in the Pentagon.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Barack Obama is entering the fight for U.S. House control by appearing in a 30-second ad urging California voters to approve a November ballot proposal that could add as many as five Democrat-held House seats in California.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- On Monday, the fragile ceasefire in Gaza led to freedom for Israeli hostages and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. It was the culmination of a long and tortuous process -- but it may, in the end, have been the easier part.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is declaring Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip over and has already barreled ahead toward far larger goals -- arguing that the fragile ceasefire his administration helped broker is a chance to bring a lasting peace to the greater Middle East.
Trump arrives in Israel to address parliament before heading to Egypt for world leaders meeting. Hamas released 20 living hostages on Monday as part of a ceasefire pausing two years of war that saw Israel pummel Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and left scores of captives in militant hands. The first seven were released early Monday and were...
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Sunday warned Russia that he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles if Moscow doesn't settle its war there soon.
HONG KONG (AP) -- China outlined new curbs on exports of rare earths and related technologies on Thursday, extending controls over use of the elements critical for many high-tech and military products ahead of a meeting in about three weeks between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Budget 2025 will be tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on November 4th. It is an opportunity for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to set a new policy direction for Canada. Uncertainty is high. Stakes are high. Will the government meet the moment – the hinge moment, as Carney would say? Will Budget 2025 be fiscally responsible? James...
Canada risks falling dangerously behind in the global race to harness the productivity-enhancing power of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Despite its world-class universities, highly educated population, and a history of AI research excellence (particularly emanating from the Greater Toronto Area), Canada’s workplace adoption of GenAI is currently less than half that of the United States.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is making Canada's the first ministerial-level trip to India in two years in mid-October 2025 as the Canada-India relationship continues to thaw after a lengthy freeze during the end of previous Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s time in office. New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
I am very worried that Canada is sleepwalking into potentially the most dangerous military project since the atom bomb. Trump’s Golden Dome will put thousands of weapons in space – one of the few places where there are no weapons today – and lock us into a new Cold War with Russia and China that will rob our children and...
Basil Borutski brutally murdered three women one morning in 2015, in Renfrew County, Ontario. He was convicted and sent to prison, where he died. I wrote a book about the case.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own department is struggling to comply with a flurry of legal orders requiring it to release information to requesters who’ve been denied their rights under the Access to Information Act. In the last two years, Caroline Maynard, Canada’s information commissioner, has hit the Privy Council Office (PCO) with at least 87 such orders after her investigators...
The polls continue to show a narrow, but diminishing, advantage for Mark Carney’s Liberals. But the polls also show that Canadians hold some complicated, and at terms contradictory, views when it comes to the United States and the prime minister’s relationship with Donald Trump. It’s a delicate balancing act for Carney — one that could easily go badly for the...
A legal battle is underway over the notwithstanding clause, which allows governments to override “[certain] rights of Canadians” that are protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It’s a tool provincial governments have invoked often in recent years. But the federal government is bringing the dispute to the Supreme Court, asking it to consider new limits on the clause...
Canada's first ever minister of artificial intelligence, Evan Solomon, is spearheading what he's calling a "30-day sprint" to nail down Canada's AI strategy. The plan? To figure out a government approach to the technology in order to boost the Canadian economy. Today, we wanted to take stock of the state of the industry in Canada, and a closer look at...
How much of your moral autonomy are you willing to sacrifice for convenience? Turning to an AI chatbot for help has become the new 'just search it up on the internet', but the robot's code is far more sophisticated and addicting than the results of a Google search. Answers become detailed, personalized and emotionally impactful, so much so that the...
